Listn funding signals social streaming music aggregation trend

Listn, the app from MFive Labs, has received $500,000 in seed money to grow its user base and continue developing its platform. It combines YouTube, Rdio, Spotify, SoundCloud, and iTunes under one roof for a unified listening experience. Its new funding round indicates a nascent cottage industry of social streaming music aggregation apps, another of which, AudioBox, we reported on last weekend.

Wherever your legally owned or accessible music files are stored, Listn grabs them and streams them through its own interface. You can then like, comment on, share, and otherwise interact within its own social network. The Listn user base is still relatively small compared to the services it integrates, so the sharing aspects might be left a little wanting. But it does address the problem of having to access your fractured music library through multiple services.

Currently the app is only available for iOS. One of its competitors, AudioBox, is available for both iOS and Android, but even that company is focusing more on iOS, mainly because the A7 system-on-a-chip is so attractive to developers due to its deep integration across apps. The two services both scan your local music library in addition to integrating third-party APIs.

Another feature of Listn is that it lets you view your friends' unified music libraries, something not available in AudioBox. Conversely, the latter service emphasizes digital fidelity, as it streams your local music as-is with no processing or outsourcing. Competitively speaking, both services are worth a shot for anyone tired of switching back and forth between multiple music streaming services.